Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

  • Welcome
    • Prayer Cycle
      • Introduction to the Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle
      • Day 1 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Cathedral
      • Day 2 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Scriptures
      • Day 3 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Saints
      • Day 4 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Spiritual Directors
      • Day 5 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Icon
      • Day 6 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Sacrament
      • Day 7 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Liturgy
      • Prayer Cycle Leader Resources
    • About the Abbey
    • About Christine Valters Paintner
    • About John Valters Paintner
    • About the Wisdom Council
    • Monk Manifesto
    • Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks
    • Subscribe to Our Love Notes
    • Website privacy notice
  • Books
    • Sacred Time:
      Embracing an Intentional Way of Life
    • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: Poems
    • Earth, Our Original Monastery:
      Cultivating Wonder and Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature
    • Dreaming of Stones: Poems
    • The Soul's Slow Ripening:
      12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred
    • The Wisdom of the Body:
      A Contemplative Journey to Wholeness for Women
    • Illuminating the Way:
      Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics
    • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
      Eight Practices for the Journey Within
    • Eyes of the Heart:
      Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice
    • The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom
    • Desert Mothers and Fathers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings Annotated & Explained
    • Lectio Divina–The Sacred Art: Transforming Words and Images into Heart-Centered Prayer
    • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements
    • Awakening the Creative Spirit:
      Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction
    • Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening & Awareness
  • Poetry | Art | Music
    • Music + DVD
    • Poetry by Christine Valters Paintner
    • Poetry Videos
    • Dancing Monk Icons
    • Other Art Collaborations
      • Monk in the World art series by Kristin Noelle
      • Saints & Animals art series by David Hollington
      • Sacred Time art series by Alexi Francis
      • Mary block print art series by Kreg Yingst
  • Programs
    • Walk the Ancient Paths: Pilgrimage
      • Monk in the World (Ireland)
      • Writing on the Wild Edges (Ireland)
      • Poetry and the Sacred Garden of the World (Ireland)
      • Vienna Monk in the World (Austria)
      • Hildegard of Bingen (Germany)
    • Live Programs and Spiritual Retreats
      • Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts (Northwest)
    • Community Online Retreats
      • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color
      • The Way of the Hermit:
        A Spiritual Survival Guide for Dark Times
        with Kayleen Asbo, PhD
      • The Spiral Way:
        Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination
      • Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers (Lent 2021)
      • Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life (Spring 2021)
    • Self-Study Online Spiritual Retreats
      • Creative Flourishing in the Heart of the Desert:
        An Online Retreat with St. Hildegard of Bingen
      • Dreaming of the Sea:
        A women’s discernment journey through the story of the Selkie
      • Earth, Our Original Monastery
        A Companion Retreat to the Book (SELF-STUDY)
      • Exile and Coming Home:
        An Archetypal Journey through the Scriptures
      • Eyes of the Heart:
        Photography as Contemplative Practice
        (Companion retreat to the book)
      • Honoring Saints and Ancestors:
        Online Retreat for the Season of Remembrance
      • Lectio Divina:
        The Sacred Art of Reading the World
      • A Midwinter God:
        Making a Conscious Underworld Journey
      • Sacred Rhythms of Sky, Sun, Sea & Stone:
        A Creative Retreat with the Elements (SELF-STUDY)
      • Sacred Seasons:
        A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year
      • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
        Eight Practices for the Journey Within
        (a companion retreat to the book)
      • The Soul's Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seekers of the Sacred (a companion retreat to the book)
      • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire
      • Watershed Moments
        in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
      • Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist:
        A 12-Week Companion Retreat to The Artist's Rule
      • The Wisdom of the Body:
        A 10-Week Online Companion Retreat to the Book
      • The Wisdom of Mary and the Sacred Feminine
  • Calendar
  • Reflections
  • Contact

Abbess love notes, Poetry, Wisdom of Wild Grace

Aubade (a new poetry video) ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Aubade – Poem Video from Christine Valters Paintner on Vimeo.

Aubade

The day opens its white page,
spreading herself like so much possibility,
you take your pen, pausing
before you begin so you can hear
the jackdaw caw high above
your tiny shadow and the snowdrop’s
insistent blooming, somewhere
is the knowing glance of badger,
each unafraid to write their stories
on wind and soil and you see they
offer ink for your pen in
a hundred different colors.

—Christine Valters Paintner, The Wisdom of Wild Grace

Dearest monks and artists,

Like many monks and writers, I love morning time for writing. I feel more refreshed and focused while still connected to that dreamtime consciousness before I have had a chance to get corralled into planning mode. It is the time when poems most often arrive to me.

I am thrilled to share a new series of poetry videos created by two local filmmakers in Galway, Luke and Jake Morgan, who also happen to be very talented brothers. These videos are to celebrate my next poetry collection being published by Paraclete Press in October – The Wisdom of Wild Grace. It is a wonderful way to see my poems in new ways and offer you a visual invitation. If you don’t like the visual addition, you can simply close your eyes and hear me reading you each poem. The first video we are sharing is for my poem Aubade (which means a poem written for the dawn or morning). I also have a poem published this week at Bearings Online, click here for “Say Yes to theMuse” (also from the forthcoming collection).

As a writer first and foremost, I have been working on lots of writing projects including the Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle which we shared last week. The audio podcast versions of each morning and evening prayer service will start being released weekly in October.

Looking ahead, in spring 2021, my next book from Ave Maria Press will be published – Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life. This book has been developing in me for many years and looks at the widening rhythms of breath, hours of the day, sabbath rhythms of the week, lunar cycles of the month, seasonal cycle of the year, seasons of a lifetime, ancestral time, and cosmic time as a way to bring more attention and intention to our moments. It is an invitation to embrace Kairos time more often in our lives. I was delighted to have UK artist Alexi Francis create some beautiful illustrations for each chapter. This was the book I focused on primarily during our sabbatical year, so it carries many of the fruits of that time.

The next book I am starting to write now is on Mary and her many names and titles. I have long been fascinated by the fact that Mary is identified with so many images and archetypes – Virgin, Star of the Sea, Mother of Sorrows, Queen of Heaven – and I am writing thirty reflections to invite readers more deeply into each of them. I am also thrilled to be collaborating with U.S. block print artist Kreg Yingst on creating an artwork for each reflection and name I explore. That book will be published by Ave Maria Press in spring 2022.

And of course, I am already at work on a series of poems for a third poetry collection. Right now they all seem to be love poems of various kinds, so that will likely be the overall theme. I am immensely grateful for a rich writing life with so many projects dear to my heart to dive into.

I am so grateful to live a life with time for writing, and time to connect with our amazing global community through all of our various programs and offerings. I am grateful for how many of you love to work through many of my books alone and with others as a way of giving yourself the gift of retreat in the midst of your daily lives. (You can journey through The Artist’s Rule in our online community this fall. A wonderful choice if you want to nourish your inner monk and artist).

With great and growing love,

Christine

Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE

PS – I led a one-hour webinar this past spring for Paraclete Press on the Celtic idea of thresholds as a way of understanding our current individual and collective transitions. It is now available to rent for $5 at their website.

Video credit: Luke Morgan at Morgan Creative

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Leave a Comment August 23, 2020

Upcoming Programs

The Way of the Hermit:
A Spiritual Survival Guide for Dark Times

January 22-24, 2021
with Kayleen Asbo, PhD

The Spiral Way:
Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination

Hosted by the Rowe Center
February 1-21, 2021
with Christine Valters Paintner, PhD

Recent Reflections

  • Humility + Join us today for live prayer! ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales 2: Tús maith leath na hoibre – by John Valters Paintner
  • New Book Club for 2021: Lift Every Voice ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales One: Dia dhuit, is mise Hildy! by John Valters Paintner, Your Online Prior
  • Celebrate the Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle podcast with us!

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